MASON BUSINESS PEOPLE TO BE HONORED ON FEBRUARY 11TH

The Mason Area Chamber of Commerce's 2015 annual awards dinner will be held the evening of Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at the Eldorado Golf Course Banquet Center at 3750 W. Howell Road, west of Mason. Approximately 185 people will attend the event to honor those awarded.

Jamie and Scott Robinson are selected as the recipients of the Mason Area Chamber’s 2015 Citizens of the Year Award. This award recognizes people who have made significant contributions to the community over several years through their caring and concern. Besides owning and operating Darrell’s Market & Hardware, Bestsellers Books & Coffee Company, and The Vault Deli, Jamie and Scott Robinson have been involved for so many years with Kiwanis Club of Mason, Mason Optimist Club, Mason First Presbyterian Church, and many other organizations.

Lifelong residents of Mason, they have established a reputation deserving of the award for Citizens of the Year. A 2013 City of Mason Mayoral Proclamation concerning their annual car show fundraiser was given “in recognition of Jamie and Scott Robinson’s tireless commitment and generosity to their community…” Leon Clark also stated that they “have again displayed their ongoing commitment to the health, welfare, and quality of life of the City of Mason and Mason community.”

BlueGrass Lawn & Landscape is selected for the 2015 Excellence in Business Award. This award is presented to a business for innovation, risk, and growth that represents the entrepreneurial spirit of business development. Those qualities have certainly been in evidence through their expansion a few years ago.

They have a large showroom and garden center in the former site of Wickes Lumber at 781 Hull Road, just south of Mason. The company’s owners Neil Sheridan, Doug Byers, and Shawn Zendler are very hands-on. You’ll find them in the office handling designs, sales, invoicing and estimates – as well as in the field making sure contracted work is being implemented per client specifications.

Peter Robinson of Oracle Financial Solutions is selected for the MACC 2015 President’s Award. This award recognizes a person who has made significant contributions to the Chamber’s goals over the past year. As a past president and longtime Chamber volunteer leader, Peter Robinson assists in many Chamber events.

However, it is his work on the annual MACC Golf Classic that is being recognized with this award. Net proceeds of the outing support the MACC Aggie Corner Scholarships for Community Volunteerism that are now awarded to two graduating Mason High School seniors each year.

While Peter Robinson was recognized with this award as part of a committee in 2013, committee chair Aaron Fiedler of Fiedler Insurance Agency says that, “Peter Robinson has now gone above and beyond that group effort to make it his personal mission to grow the MACC Golf Classic into the premier networking event for the Chamber.”

In the past three years, through his hands-on leadership and the support of presenting sponsor Oracle Financial Solutions, Peter Robinson and the other members of the MACC Golf Committee have tripled the number of golfers who participate in the outing. As recently as 2011, the event had less than 44 golfers. There were 138 golfers last year.

The annual MACC Awards Dinner is generously presented and sponsored by select Chamber members. There are other individual and group awards being presented at the dinner, and they are also sponsored by Chamber members. As part of the event, recognition is also given to retiring Chamber board members, Chamber leadership, and 2014 volunteers. Prepaid dinner reservations are $40 per person.

Since only a limited number of seats are available, businesses, organizations and individuals should send in their checks well before 1:00 p.m. on Friday, January 23, the mailed-in prepaid reservation deadline. Credit card prepaid reservations are also taken in person at the Chamber office and by phone at (517) 676-1046. However, after January 30 the prepaid reservations go up to $50 per person, if any are still available.